The House and Senate spent the past week on the floor voting bills out of their chambers ahead of Wednesday's house of origin cutoff deadline. System requested bills HB 1714 — which would grant a high school diploma to students over the age of 16 who complete an associate degree — and SHB 1715 — which would remove the ability of a K-12 school district to withhold a student’s grades or transcripts because of unpaid fines or fees — both passed the House this week. >>

House and Senate fiscal committees held marathon hearings this week, hearing and voting on bills before the fiscal committee cutoff today. Today's cutoff means that bills with financial impact need to be voted out of those committees in order to continue in the legislative process. Testimony is encouraged to be short and focuses on a bill's fiscal significance, not policy. >>

The Legislature was busy this week as attention turned to the Senate Republican budget which was released Tuesday. It passed the chamber along party lines in the early hours of Friday. House Democrats are expected to release their version of the budget early next week. >>

Today marks the first cutoff of the 2017 session: bills in policy committees must be approved by that committee in order to continue on in the legislative process. The House version of the leasehold excise tax exemption bill was up for a hearing while the House version of the corrections education bill was heard before the House Appropriations Committee. >>

The highlight of this week was Legislative Advocacy day. This event, hosted by the Washington Community Technical Colleges Student Association (WACTCSA), gave insight to student leaders on advocating during legislative session. Students also had the opportunity to meet with their legislators for pre-scheduled visits. >>

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Legislative News is published weekly during the legislative session by the staff of the
Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to highlight issues impacting
the two-year college system.

SBCTC is led by a Governor-appointed board and provides leadership, advocacy, and coordination
for Washington’s system of 34 public community and technical colleges. Each year,
about 381,000 students train for the workforce, prepare to transfer to a university,
gain basic math and English skills, or pursue continuing education. Visit our website
at SBCTC.edu or email us a SBCTCCommunications@sbctc.edu